Rute Cardoso has opened up on Diogo Jota's tragic death in a new book which features contributions from Arne Slot, Jurgen Klopp and other well-known football figures
Diogo Jota and wife Rute Cardoso
Diogo Jota and Rute Cardoso got married last June(Image: Instagram/rutecfcardoso14)
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Tragic Diogo Jota’s widow is set to reveal she messaged the former Liverpool and Wolves star - unaware that he had crashed - asking him to send her their wedding video when he got a chance to pull over.
Rute Cardoso will reportedly make the tear-jerking admission in a book, which will be out next week, about her last words to her father-of-three new husband before she found out about his horror accident in his £180,000 Lamborghini Huracan when he died alongside older brother Andre Silva.
And she will also insist the 28-year-old, killed in an early-hours Spanish motorway crash in the rented sports car on July 3 last year as he drove towards Santander to catch a ferry to the UK, was never the sort of player obsessed with flash motors and expensive watches.
Childhood sweethearts Diogo and Rute had tied the knot at a church in Porto on June 22 last year, 13 years after they started dating and just 11 days before the crash on the A-52 in Cernadilla near Zamora close to Spain’s north-west border with Portugal. The official biography, out on April 9 in Portugal and written by former footballer Jose Manuel Delgado, is called ‘Nunca Mais e Muito Tempo’ - which in English translates as ’Never Again Is a Long Time.’
Speaking about the biography on Portuguese TV, presenter Isabel Figueira said: “What shook me the most when reading an excerpt from the book is the way Rute narrates the last messages she sends him, which Diogo never receives. She says she had just received the wedding video and she says ‘Love, when you stop, call me, because I have something here to show you,’ and it was this video.”
Rute, who has now moved back to Gondomar near Porto in Portugal with the couple’s children, is also understood to have told Jose Manuel how she started calling the hotel near the crash scene where Diogo was due to stay that night when she became worried at his failure to respond, then hospitals, police and finally a lorry driver relative with good Spanish traffic cop contacts.
In another excerpt from the book highlighted by Portuguese magazine Flash, she says: “Unlike most players, who like flashy cars, jewellery and watches, Diogo was never into that scene.
Rute Cardoso and Diogo Jota had only been married a few weeks
Rute Cardoso wanted Diogo Jota to send her their wedding video(Image: Instagram/@diogoj_18)
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“The vehicles we had were enough for him. Perhaps because he was never very interested in cars, he took the opportunity to have the experience of driving a Ferrari, which, in fact, he returned on the morning of our wedding. Afterwards, he would rent the Lamborghini.”
As well as the footballers’ parents and other family, Liverpool manager Arne Slot, former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, Portugal manager Roberto Martinez and Manchester City stars Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, have also contributed to the new official biography.
Publisher Cultura Editors, which belongs to Lisbon-based parent company Grupo Infinito Particular, described it in an online preview as a “deeply emotional and respectful work that pays tribute to the life and legacy of Diogo Jota, not only as an elite player, but also as a man.”
It adds: “More than a sports biography, this book reveals the human journey of a figure who marked a generation. From his origins in Gondomar to international recognition, passing through family life, love, fatherhood, and the discreet way he lived his success, an intimate, rigorous, and sensitive portrait is built here.
Diogo Jota and Rute Cardoso
The couple had three children
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“Based on around 90 testimonies, including names such as Ruben Neves, Bernardo Silva, Virgil van Dijk, and coaches like Jurgen Klopp and Fernando Santos, the narrative gains a collective dimension, reflecting the human and professional impact of Diogo Jota on and off the field.
“The book also addresses, with sobriety and respect, the tragic accident that claimed the lives of Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, a moment that deeply shook Portuguese and international football. Without resorting to sensationalism, the book seeks to give meaning to the loss, preserving the dignity of memory.
“With detailed documentation, complete career statistics, and a set of exclusive photographs provided by the family, this is an enduring testament to talent, character, and humanity. A book that does not merely remember: it helps us understand why some absences never cease to be a presence. Arriving in bookstores across the country on April 9.”
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